Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation, the restaurant guest experience podcast, where I talk to industry experts to get their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five-star guest experience. This podcast is sponsored by Ovation, an operations and guest recovery platform for multi-unit restaurants that gives all the answers without annoying guests with all the questions. Learn more at OvationUpcom. And today we have my new fast friend, Jill Raff. She's the founder and CEO of the Jill Raff Group and a fierce advocate for employee and customer experience. Jill, welcome to Give an Ovation.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Oh, thank you so much. I'm thrilled to be here with you, Zach.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Well, first of all, I got to ask you what does the Jill Raff group do? Because, from what I know of Jill Raff, outside of all the awesome LinkedIn content, is just like the fact that this is the longest time that I've ever chatted with someone before I hit record and I didn't even look at the clock and I'm like, okay, the three minutes of chit chat is wait, 20 minutes of where did that go? So anyway. So tell me about the Jill Raff group.

Speaker 2: 1:11

The Jill Raff group. So you know our whole point of view is EX to CX. So you know, playing on the B2B, but really it's about employee experience leading to customer experience be, but really it's about employee experience leading to customer experience. Strong customer experience advocate. I just personally feel, from my experiences and my childhood growing up in the industry and so many different things, that in order to create great customer experience you need to first have a great employee experience. It's an inside-out framework, that's the whole concept and so really that whole messaging is delivered through speaking through workshops I host, which I'm excited to have you on a celebrity customer experience Riffs with Jill Raff, where we riff on anything and everything from employee experience to customer experience. So that really is what lights me up, it's what drives me and excites me, is that human element, the human experience, the human connection.

Speaker 1: 2:16

I love that you use that word connection, because isn't that what we're all craving? Isn't that what it's all about? I mean, from the person that we meet in the bus, then start chatting with them, to, you know, our spouse, to our kids. It's about that connection to the guest that walks in our door Right. And isn't it hard, though, jill to, to teach employees to make that connection.

Speaker 2: 2:42

I think if it's done well, if it's done correctly and if it's done from the very first interaction and there's a difference between a transaction and interaction when it's done with the very first interaction with that employee, when your brand oozes your culture and that, being a part of it, they know what they're stepping into when they come to you. So I think when you had that first interaction with them, they know that that's something of high value and so if you start off your education with you, then they're going to know that that's something that needs to live within the work they do for the company.

Speaker 1: 3:23

How do you see people mess that up?

Speaker 2: 3:27

Oh gosh, not paying attention to it, not prioritizing it, hiring what I call warm body hiring, right Just, and then, once they're there, not educating them, only training them. So I always say, like it's important not to just you don't train your people, you don't just task train them. You can train a monkey to smile, right, like, but just you don't train your people, you don't just task train them. You can train a monkey to smile, right, like, but you, you need to educate them. It's so I have. This process is E3 plus one recipe, and the first E is about educating, and it has to do with your values, your vision, your mission, your work ethic, all of those things that will impact both the employee experience and, of course, naturally, ultimately then your customer experience, because there's no way for them not to feel it.

Speaker 1: 4:11

So let's talk about that. What is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays?

Speaker 2: 4:16

Yes, I go back to what you picked up on right. It's that genuine authenticity, it's the connection, it's the human element. Of course we do have experiences where you can remove that human element, but it's a very specific type of experience. It's a transaction, it's different and there's a need for all of those things, but what you and I really focus on is where the human element's involved. So I think the most important thing personally is that genuine connection. So a quick little saying for me is that we need to transform transactions into interactions and when you create interactions you create a relationship. And when you have real relationships you create connection. And that's connection singular, not plural. It's not about a personal or professional profit or gain. It's about that connection with the human being. And then one last step is when you have that genuine connection that equals profits and again I mean profit squared, because it's a profit, of course, for your business, but financially, but it's also a profit that we grow as human beings. We connect, we are better people when we're connected with other great people.

Speaker 1: 5:36

And something that I feel so many people often forget about is that employees the number one thing that's going to make or break an employee is the manager, right? So if you have a good manager that cares about their people, then that's going to have a big effect on things. But the second thing is their ability to make other people happy. They want to make other people happy. They want to make other people happy, and as you empower them to make other people happy, they become happier. Right, and it's this virtuous happiness cycle.

Speaker 1: 6:12

And what happens too often is we focus on the bottom line, we hand tie our employees, we don't empower them to do a little, a little bit extra. They have to feel like they need to go their manager every time to ask for anything, and then their manager gets frustrated, and so then the manager begins acting like a bad manager and then you have a very bad employee experience. It creates a bad guest experience, right, yes, that's a vicious cycle, exactly. And but if we could, just one of our brand that I love is via 313, and they're based in austin and they've come up here to to utah as well, as they're growing all over the place a savory fun group, uh restaurant and they. If you go in and you don't order detroit's pizza and it's your first time there the servers are empowered to just bring you out a Detroit style pizza. So you can try it Good to know If you haven't been there before and you order Detroit style pizza, the server's empowered just to bring you out cinnamon sticks without asking how much does that cost? Jill Right.

Speaker 2: 7:22

It's priceless. That's right it to me. When companies don't do that, it's so short sighted and that's why in my recipe for success that last well, the entrust is the last part that you don't micromanage right. You will empower them because you've done the first two steps properly. You can totally know that they are going to have the best interest of the company in mind and that they're going to be actually living out your culture that you've educated them on, and part of that is generosity to your customers.

Speaker 2: 7:57

And just going back to what you mentioned about the managers, I think so important I just saw a great quote on LinkedIn and I don't remember the source, but it was talking about that in order to be a great manager, that you need to put more time into developing yourself and working on yourself than you do your job. It was really fascinating, because the better we are as humans, as people and sharing empathy, then the better we're going to be once we're there in the work environment, performing whatever task and job responsibilities that we have, because those are given right. So it's the variable is the person that's implementing those things. Variable is the person that's implementing those things, and so you want to bring in managers and create managers that do have that empathy, that have those emotional intelligence, human skills, so that people want to show up, they want to do well for that manager, instead of falling into that bad cycle.

Speaker 1: 8:58

I love that. Kelly Easton from Toast. One of the things that she told me was that she shares with her team is you need to grow faster than the company. You as a person need to grow faster than the company, and I think that is so powerful, and then she does a really good job of helping empower her employees to grow faster and give them the tools and the time and the resources to do that. So I know we've been talking we've been kind of kicking around a little bit about tactics. Talk to me about a tactic, though. What's a tactic that you've seen that's been used to improve the guest and customer experience?

Speaker 2: 9:32

So for me, I like to think of it as a philosophy or a strategy. I know it's semantics versus like a tactic, but, like, I feel like the best strategy to do that is to look at, look at it holistically, to not look at a one-off, because a one-off is not going to work. A one-off is going to be felt as transactional even by your employees. It's going to be short-lived because it is just a quick fix. It's a quick little tactic, right, but if you really integrate from the very beginning what these values are and hire people who are aligned with those values, I think without a doubt, there's no way you can lose from that and problems happen.

Speaker 2: 10:24

But again, part of that culture is how do you handle problems right? You, you do it from a position of empathy and strength and say we messed up and okay, where do we go from here? Here's how you fix it. Let the person show you that they can fix it. Like right, it's like child, it's raising children, the same thing. You, you say like, okay, you give them a little direction and a little nudge, but then you're allowing them to have the power to do that themselves and they'll feel better about themselves. And anyone who feels better about themselves are going to always present and perform better, whether it's them personally or for your company. So kind of long-winded answer. But I go back to feeling so strongly that it's not about a quick action or something that you do as a one-off, because it will be felt that way, I think when you show someone you really are invested in them and who they are, that will give you the longevity.

Speaker 1: 11:22

I love that it is so and again, from the customer to the employee. It's about connection, it's about people, and the thing that I always say is there's a universal human desire. Every single person and we were talking about you've lived in numerous countries, I love to travel and everywhere I've been, it's the same. The universal human desire is the desire to feel important. And if we miss out on that, one fundamental issue be it our customers, be it our employees or, quite frankly, be it ourselves, in realizing that we need to feel that way, we'll miss the whole boat. And I think it's in connection to me is that gateway into helping people feel that way, and the more authentic it is, the more important they feel?

Speaker 2: 12:15

Yes, exactly, you know, zach, I love that you feel so strongly about this. I always say that for me it's kind of like the bigger picture, the woo-woo part of what I do, the bigger picture, the woo-woo part of what I do. And because I feel like through great employee and customer experience, we're going to create a happier, more loving, more appreciative world. And who doesn't want to live in that? Because every day, multiple times a day, we're either on the buying customer side or we're on the delivery side, right as the employee or as the owner or whatever. And those experiences influence and how we feel and they affect our emotions and how we respond to the world.

Speaker 2: 12:55

And it's just a known fact scientifically that when you're angry or upset about something that comes out, you take it out on other people. But if we each made sure that we delivered this great personal, connective, authentic experience, they're going to walk away happy. I've had multiple experiences where I think about how I just I left something and I'm kind of got this pep in my step and I'm smiling and I'm like why do I feel this way? Oh, because I just had this amazing connection with someone who helped me out at the bank, which is cold and dry, right Like, so it comes back to that. So I really feel that we can make this world a happier and more peaceful place by employing customer experience.

Speaker 1: 13:36

I love that, Amen Jill.

Speaker 2: 13:39

All right.

Speaker 1: 13:39

So for people who are listening and they're like Jill is amazing. Where can they go to learn more? Where can they go to you know, find out more, if they want to hire you to come speak to you know, train their teams? Where can they go?

Speaker 2: 13:53

To my website. My name, jill Raff, and it's R like Ronald, a like apple pie and double F like French fry, and I bring that out because my foundational half of my life was McDonald's, being raised in McDonald's, but so it's Jill Raff dot com. So there's my website and or reach out to me directly, Jill at Jill Raff dot com is probably the fastest way or LinkedIn. I've got a strong presence on LinkedIn.

Speaker 1: 14:23

Yeah, you do, and push out some great content there. So check out Jill. Double L, raf, double F. And who is someone that deserves an ovation in the restaurant industry? Jill.

Speaker 2: 14:34

You know I'm sure many people have said that the typical one right Like in terms of large franchise, chick-fil-a is doing amazing right, but I think about even some local businesses Hopdoddy, another burger place, or Mighty Fine Like they really live their brand and you feel that the employees are happy, which makes you happy. The whole experience is really a great one and I would probably go with those.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Amen, yeah, great, great brands indeed. Well, jill. Great brands indeed. Well, jill, for teaching us the path to great customer experience is paved with employee experience. Today's ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation. Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen. We're all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by Ovation, a two-question, SMS-based actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at OvationUpcom.